Doron gives honors 2nd billing to team

NCAA Women's Tournament

March 19, 2005|By Edward Lee | Edward Lee,SUN STAFF

Don't tell Shay Doron that she is the face of the Maryland women's basketball team.

Yes, the sophomore guard leads the Terps in scoring. Yes, she is the team's lone All-Atlantic Coast Conference first-team selection. And yes, she was named to the Kodak/Women's Basketball Coaches Association Region II All-America team this week.

"I don't care about that," Doron said after practice on Thursday as the seventh-seeded Terps (21-9) prepare to begin NCAA tournament play tomorrow against 10th-seeded Wisconsin-Green Bay (27-3) in a Philadelphia Regional first-round game at approximately 2:30 p.m. at Comcast Center in College Park. "Whether it's my team or not, who cares as long as we win? ... If I was looking for individual stuff, I'd probably go play tennis or something."

Thankfully for Maryland, Doron loves basketball too much to give up the sport. Doron, who has been playing since she attended elementary school in her native Israel, played in Europe as a member of the Israeli national team and moved to Great Neck, N.Y., to spend her junior and senior years at Christ the King - which produced WNBA stars Chamique Holdsclaw and Sue Bird.

A McDonald's All-American and Gatorade Player of the Year in New York, Doron averaged 13.5 points as a freshman last season despite coming off the bench for the Terps' final 12 games.

Doron has started all 30 games this winter and leads the team in scoring with 17.6 points a game. Doron, who has been known to use her swipe card to enter Comcast Center at midnight and practice her jump shot, established a sophomore-class record with 527 points and has made 138 free throws, breaking the single-season record of 136 she set last year.

"Shay continues to be a tremendous leader for us," said Maryland coach Brenda Frese, who recruited Doron and fellow guard Kalika France to make up the nation's No. 10 recruiting class. "She's a tremendous competitor, and she obviously is able to score, attack off the dribble, and shoot the three."

But Doron's game isn't just limited to offense. Doron, whose 61 steals are second to senior point guard Anesia Smith's 63, has a knack for throwing her wiry 5-foot-9 frame in front of opposing players and drawing charges.

Last season, she drew at least one charge in all but three games. This year, Doron is taking the charges even though she has nagging shoulder and ankle injuries.

France said she marvels at the way Doron endangers her body.

"There's nobody in the game that takes charges like she does," France said. "I'm sure she's not focused on her injuries. When she's out there, she gives it 110 percent with everything that she has."

Still, all those individual accolades will mean little to her if the Terps don't improve on last year's second-round exit in the NCAA tournament.

If Maryland defeats Wisconsin-Green Bay, the Terps would meet the winner of second-seeded Ohio State (28-4) and 15th-seeded Holy Cross (20-10) Tuesday night at Comcast Center.

"I don't measure [my season] by what happens individually. I measure it by how we end," Doron said. "I'll be disappointed if we don't surpass what we did last year. That's our first goal."